Sandwich Preservation Committee Approves Shawme Dam Repair Funding 12-11-15
Sandwich Preservation Committee Approves Shawme Dam Repair Funding
The Sandwich Enterprise
By TAO WOOLFE Dec 11, 2015
The Sandwich Community Preservation Committee approved a request for $1.2 million in Community Preservation Act funding to repair the Lower Shawme Pond Dam.
The proposal will now go to a Town Meeting on May 2 where voters can make the final decision.
The picturesque dam and surrounding stonework graces Shawme Pond behind Town Hall and the Dexter Gristmill. Its walls support a fish ladder for herring and also guide water into a spillway feeding Mill Creek.
Kurt Staller, an engineer who studied the Lower Shawme Dam at the town's request, had submitted estimates for doing the work in stages and as a single project. The $1.2 million estimate would cover the work as a single project with the work spanning two construction seasons.
The board of selectmen earlier this year opted for that approach rather than tackling the project in phases, which would have entailed a lower initial cost but ultimately push the project cost up another $200,000 to $400,000.
The Preservation Committee voted unanimously to support the $1.2 million repair project.
Mr. Staller, of Gibson-Thomas Engineering, had said the town should complete the work as quickly as possible, given the visual popularity of the setting among Sandwich visitors.
Specific steps to mend the complex include repairs of the spillway, fish ladder and inside stone wall, estimated at $675,000; replacing the town hall stone wall, $125,000; pressure grouting of the grist mill walls and floor, $75,000; and the repointing of the upstream face dam stone walls, $25,000.
